The Politics Of Rape

Last week you probably heard about Democratic Colorado state Rep. Joe Salazar controversial remarks during a debate on the House floor over a concealed-weapons ban on college campuses. He argued that women do not need guns. He said that women fearing rape may accidentally shoot that gun at others. : He said, “It’s why we have call boxes; it’s why we have safe zones; it’s why we have the whistles – because you just don’t know who you’re gonna be shooting at. And you don’t know if you feel like you’re gonna be raped, or if you feel like someone’s been following you around or if you feel like you’re in trouble when you may actually not be, that you pop out that gun and you pop … pop a round at somebody.”

The right went: ballistic on him in much the same way the left went ballistic on Todd Akin and his “legitimate: rape” remarks, and Robert Mourdock’s remarks about : babies: conceived: in rape. During the Akin and Mourdock’s remarks, I remained silent. Mainly because I was too angry to write about it (I’ve learned to never write when I’m really angry). Part of why I was angry was because the left and the media totally distorted both men’s remarks (Mourdock’s remarks were especially distorted), and they ignored their apologies. When a liberal says something offensive and apologizes, all is forgiven and forgotten (that is, if the msm even reports on it enough for it to be a real part of the news cycle), but if a conservative says something offensive, then they are dismissed and banned for life for their remarks. Apologies are ignored for the most part. But mostly I was angry because I have a family member, and a friend who have been raped. To use rape for political purposes is beyond the pale. It is wrong on so many levels. Reporters use it to frame questions in such a way to “catch” a candidate saying something that will make them look bad. In Salazar’s case, he uses it to promote gun control.

Worst of all, Feminists use rape to promote a political agenda. : Probably the worst example of this is Leslie Marshall, a liberal pundit, who wrote an entire column in U.S. News bashing Todd Akin, claiming that she was raped when she was 19. She writes, “And I should know. I was the victim of rape at 19.”

Yet here, on the Sean Hannity Show where she now wants to argue gun control and defend Salazar’s remarks, she claims she wasn’t a victim of rape, as she did her article, but that at 19 she fought off her would be rapist, and didn’t need a gun to do it. She says, “If like me at 19, if you were the victim of an: attempted rape, and I didn’t have a gun, and I did fight him off. : You can use self defense tactics if a gun is not at your disposable.”

So, when bashing Republican Akin, Marshall says she was raped, but when defending Salazar, she says it was only “attempted: rape,” and she fought him off.

This is: despicable. Was she lying about one or both? If she was, then in doing so: she: diminishes: the pain of all women who have suffered rape, by making up her stories to promote whatever political agenda she wishes to at any given moment.

Shame on Leslie Marshal, and shame on anyone who uses rape for political purposes.